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Friday, September 4, 2009

I was turned on last year to Math U See. I have tried many other math curricula, but nothing seemed to be working for my kids. Either it was too advanced, too confusing, or just too many problems at one given time.

In walks Math U See. To us, this was a breath of fresh air. The fact that Steve Demme has included a teaching dvd with each set makes it worth everything. This does not take away from my role in the teaching of this math curriculum. What this does, is give my children some concrete and visual directions and instructions on the "how and why" of math.

With Math U See, you also get to use blocks and fraction overlays, and decimal inserts to really get a visual. This has been really helpful for my children who sometimes needs to see the problem to understand it.

My son who is now doing the Zeta level which is decimals and percents, has just blossomed in his math. Before Math U See, he just was not getting the concepts. He didn't really understand why he was doing it that way. Now, though, he is really learning all those basic math facts. The reason that he is doing Zeta this year was because I felt he needed to get this last step of basic math in before we started pre algebra next year. He is almost 15 and I can hear some of you saying, "He's behind". I love Steve's response to this: behind by whose standards?

When he does get ready to start the more advanced math, he will be well prepared because he has mastered all the basic math facts.

That is another thing that I love about Math U See. Each book builds on the basic math facts. You start with Primer which introduces you to math. Then you move to the Alpha book which is about Addition, and then Beta which is the next book moves into double digit addition and subtraction. The next book , Gamma, is all about multiplication. Then you have Delta which deals with Division, Epsilon introduces fractions, and Zeta is decimals and percents. By the time you finish all of these, you will be ready for pre-algebra--which is where we are headed next year.

If your child is struggling in math, can I suggest Math U See? The price is affordable, the visuals are awesome, and the material is very easy to read and understand.